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Greta Thunberg has recently been the target of quite a bit of internet hate, especially from the right, after she made a powerful speech at the United Nations on September 2019. But fortunately, there are plenty of significant people that are instead showering the 16-year-old climate activist with lots of love.
Notably, Sir David Attenborough has recently made some comments defending the dedicated teenager while also promoting his upcoming BBC Earth program Seven Worlds, One Planet. At 93 years old — 77 years older than Greta — Attenborough knows some things about fighting to protect the Earth.
“Greta Thunberg is there because of her passion, her insight and her concern about the future,” said the 93-year-old historian, according to the Huffington Post. “She’s a political person, she’s not a broadcasting person.” That comment is likely a response to Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, who made headlines tweeting that Thunberg has "abused loads of adults [and] terrified millions of children," and even criticized her for being "melodramatic" when she talked about the climate crisis.
"There’s something I felt very uncomfortable watching it yesterday. It was all a bit melodramatic, end of the world, apocalyptic," Morgan said about Thunberg's UN speech, according to Metro. "I wonder the impact she’s now having on young people around the world watching this who must be thinking, 'Oh my god, the world is literally about to end.' It’s not about to end."
While Morgan is right that the world isn't literally about to end, humanity and our current ecosystems are definitely at risk if we humans keep living the way we are living. Not to mention, we're already seeing the side effects of the climate crisis by way of global temperature rise, destructive wildfires, and many species becoming endangered or extinct.
What’s she done for peace, exactly? She’s got just very very angry about climate change, abused loads of adults & terrified millions of children. https://t.co/pSkufBJeuq
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 3, 2019
Attenborough also pointed out that he receives plenty of flack for working to protect the environment into his 90s. "Making programs like this, I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I’m sure a hell of a lot of young people are saying, ‘For God’s sake, why doesn’t he move over? Give another person a chance’, but anyway there I am," he said, according to the Huffington Post.
This statement proves that no matter how successful or experienced you are, there will always be people there to criticize you. Thunberg seems resilient enough to ignore the haters, which is of course a good thing, imaging how much of a difference she's made in the past 14 months.
It is safe to say that Greta is not affected too much by what others think of her — still being defended by someone as legendary as Sir David Attenborough would probably make her smile.
Get ready to take a closer look at our extraordinary planet. #SevenWorldsOnePlanet, with Sir David Attenborough, starts Sunday 27th October at 6.15pm on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer. pic.twitter.com/dGk8ESxZBJ
— BBC iPlayer (@BBCiPlayer) October 16, 2019
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